Galería de fotos 3: Toni Morrison

This jacaranda tree made me remember the chokecherry tree in Sethe’s back. The “revolting clump of scars” that Pauld D sees is also a powerful image that reminds us the barbarity of slavery.

Alethia Ochoa:

Looking at my photographic albums, I found this picture of a river in
Xico, Veracruz. The stream and the brigde made me think about the
importance of the Ohio River in Beloved because it represents the
border to traverse in order to be free. For instance, when Baby Suggs
cross the river she begins to feel for the first time the beating of
her heart. “She fixed on that and her own brand of preaching, having
made up her mind about what to do with the heart that started beating
the minute she crossed the Ohio River.”

Montserrat Ochoa:

I took this photo because it made me think of Sethe’s scars in the form of a tree, and both the positive and negative implications of them. This tree has dried braches and so is Sethe’s identity; but, on the other hand, I considered those small red flowers the beauty on her scars, as Amy Denver pointed out.

Etzel Hinojosa:

My home lies beyond the path under the trees. it remainded me of Paul D’s journey who, following their flowers, managed to find Sethe’s tree. There is also a stone at the right side of the photograph, which I decided was a grave. In Beloved, images of life, death and violence go always hand in hand.

Valeria Becerril Fernández:

I modified this photograph in order to recreate the importance that color has in the novel Beloved.

Lucía Rodríguez:

When I think about Beloved, the images of trees comes to my mind. Not only because of the beautiful, and shocking, imprint that Sethe has on her back as a reminder of her painful past, but also because in the novel there are many instances of this natural image. When she dreams outside her house, she sees her babies sometimes in “beautiful trees” (47), and here the image becomes dual, it is also the represenattion of what is dear to her and now she has lost, but also as the the place where these dear memories dwell. This bark, in particular, also reminded me of the colours that are present on the text, the sepia that Erendira was refering to and also the red that is also particular of Sethe’s back: “Roses of blood nlossomed in the blanket covering Sethe’s shoulders” (109).

Eréndira Díaz:

One of the images that stuck in my head when reading “Beloved” was Sethe running away from Sweet Home. After Amy has left her and it begins to dawn, Sethe turns around and as she is with her back towards the earth, I pictured the sunlight passing through the branches of some pine trees. This description does not appear in the novel, but I completed that blank space, that absence of description with my own version of what could have Sethe seen. I actually had to lay down on the floor in order to take this picture